This invention relates to coin operated product dispensing equipment and, more particularly, to an improved coin operated newsrack.
Coin operated newsracks are generally situated at street corners and public places and are therefore the object of attention of vandals and pilferers and even dishonest employees servicing the newsracks. With this fact of life in mind, it is necessary to design newsracks to provide effective security for the money and the newspapers stored therein and rugged construction to withstand the abuses encountered on the street.
One important requirement is to provide an enclosure for the coin mechanism and coin collecting chamber that will withstand jimmying. Chalabian U.S. Pat. No. 4,049,106 discloses a hood and a coin mechanism housing designed for this purpose.
Another newsrack design requirement is to provide what amounts to a one-way coin transfer path from the coin mechanism to the coin collecting chamber so that coins cannot be removed from the newsrack by turning it upside down or inserting a wire into the door latch opening. U.S. Pat. No. 4,049,106 discloses a baffle system for establishing such a one-way coin transfer path. This baffle system, however, empties into the coin collecting chamber along one side, thereby creating an uneven distribution of coins in the chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,049,106 also discloses a linkage for changing the coin combination to which the coin mechanism responds by means of a cylinder lock. This linkage contains a loose connection in order to accommodate the eccentricity of the linkage relative to the rotational axis of the lock.
Coin operated newsracks are generally loaded with newspapers more frequently than the coin collecting intervals. More and different people perform the former function than the latter. To reduce pilferage, it is desirable to let the newspaper loaders gain access to the newspaper storage compartment of the newsrack without genuine coins or a key to the interior of the coin mechanism housing. To this end, it is common practice to provide the newspaper loaders with slugs to open the newspaper storage compartment of the newsrack for loading purposes. However, the slugs must be separated from the genuine coins after coin collection, an operation that might cost thousands of dollars a year at a newspaper having large newsrack circulation.
The coin mechanisms of newsracks occasionally jam, which requires a serviceman to clear the jammed coin mechanism. When the serviceman gains access to the interior of the housing for the coin mechanism to unjam it, the coin collecting chamber is exposed to pilfering.